Oscar's best and worst dressed: Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett wow for totally different reasons.

By
Liz Kelly

This year's Oscar ceremony was underwhelming in myriad respects. One of them was fashion. This year's crop of gowns failed to produce even one buzzy fashion trend. And wiith considerably less bling on the red carpet, 2011 may just go down in history as the year that Oscar fashion was a bit of a yawn. Still, there were some standouts -- both stunners and stinkers -- worth a second look.

Best dressed

The insouciant Gwyneth Paltrow in utterly stunning Calvin Klein (which totally made up for her off-key on-stage performance), host Anne Hathaway's red carpet look: a dress from the Valentino archives (though we loved her in most of her gazillion on-stage gown changes, too), Helen Miren in drop-dead gorgeous grey Vivienne Westwood and a slimmed down Jennifer Hudson in Versace.

Worst Dressed

The usually fashion forward Cate Blanchett in a homely concoction from Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, Helena Bonham Carter in a corseted number she cooked up with costume designer Colleen Atwood (still, an improvement over her Globes look), best-supporting actress winner Melissa Leo in Marc Bouwer's structured, Elvis-evoking F-bomb dropping dress and Nicole Kidman in a white Christian Dior embroidered frock that actually manages to give the lithe Aussie battleship hips.

Let's see these two "beauties," Liz and Jen, model something other than their grey sweatpants; and let us be the judge of how they come across on the red carpet. Look in the mirror ladies; you have NO right to criticize!!!!

For crying out loud, this is a blog, more specifically a blog about celebrities, and the regular posters here are witty and funny.
If you have nothing clever nor amusing to say, then what right do YOU have to criticize anyone - the blog writers OR the celebrities.
As Nosy would say, Shoo now, just go away. Shoo, shoo!

I agree with Jen and Liz about the dresses. I thought Halle Berry had a beautiful dress. I think that Jennifer Hudson's had great color and flow, but the top was a little too bare. She looked great though.

Biggest surprise of the night was Cate Blanchett's dress. Givenchy doesn't usually miss, but this dress was really ugly.

Cate Blanchett...w-what...why...who did this to her? Amy Adams also looked terrible a necklace over a high neckline glittering mess of dress. Most of the dresses looked terrible or uninteresting. Good dresses belonged to Gwyneth, Helen Mirren, and Halle Berry. Jennifer Hudson would have gotten an A from me if her milk-makers weren't hanging out.

You know, I always feel a little sad for the ladies caught in the background of a star's photo wearing their off-the-rack or "I'm my own stylist" evening dress. Don't mean to be unkind. Just an observation, and admonition to myself that if ever invited to Hollywood awards show, will check mirror twice before leaving house. And not forget the Spanx.

Why is it that every other day we are subjected to Gwyneth Paltrow's face plastered on the front page of major news outlets, both media
and print, when soooooooo many people dislike her? As to the
Oscars, her gown was not exceptional and her signing voice even
worse. Knowing we are not that into her, are the entertainment
editors just trying to draw fire in the way of negative comments?
Because, believe me they WILL!

The problem with Cate's dress with the big circle of plain material in the middle of her chest. If the purple flowers had continued throughout the bodice it might have worked. But that big old circle just jarred.

Jennifer should have used the fashion tape a little more. She looked a little too close to a wardrobe malfunction for the dress to completely work.

I liked Melissa Leo's dress. It worked for her.

HBC was incredibly tame. Guess even she is awed by the Oscars.

Not a fan of the no jewelery look. It's all part of a complete outfit. Hair, dress, shoes, makeup, jewelery. All of it is necessary and must work together to create a finished look. Guess after the Lilo incident the jewelers were afraid to loan out stuff this year.

Cate Blanchett's dress was hideous---looked like an ancient ornate picture frame. Marisa Tomei looked terrific, and a normally beautiful Scarlett Johannson looked dull and lifeless. Jennifer Lawrence could have used a necklace or at least big earrings, but her dress looked perfect on her. Hailee Steinfeld had the right look for a 14 year old. I expect great things from the last two mentioned starlets in the years to come.

Anne Hathaway's late-in-the-broadcast strapless dark red dress was absolutely lovely. I wish she wore it longer. The color was amazing and it was extremely flattering on her. I thought Helen Mirren and Halle Berry were both stunning and other than that, much of the fashion left me thinking "meh".

Isn't it funny - in an Academy Awards that was supposed to be "young and hip" ... the two best-looking and best dressed women are both over 40: Halle Berry and Helen Mirren. Both ladies looked fabulous and classy. And can someone please answer this - does James Franco need glasses or is he naturally squinty??

J. Hudson looked fabulous! At least she took care to have a pulled-together look. And her cleavage was just right. Anne Hathaway's red red-carpet gown was the worst one she wore all evening. What was that fat poof??? Did she have a wardrobe change in there???

And why did Gwyneth Paltrow spend all that money and time finding just the right dress, and then not bother to do anything with her HORRIBLE hair? I mean, she really needs help with that thin, boring, fly-away mess. Any hairdresser at Cheap Cuts could have made her look like a star.

I thought Helena Bonham Carter looked fabulous and very stylish.

As usual, Halle Barry and Helen Mirren are practically the only ones that have any class. And don't forget Reese Witherspoon; black and white is not my thing, but her elegant "Do" really made her look gorgeous.

Ms. Kelly's choices for best and worst dressed are spot-on. Good eye there. It's amazing how many other outlets listed Cate Blanchett as a best dressed and then listed Jennifer Hudson as worst dressed. Please! Close-ups of Cate Blanchett's dress revealed bizarre bead work that looked like a bad skin disease, and that ugly medallion style front, blech!

Cate looked like a chair. A chair with a yoke on each shoulder. Helen was so elegant. Gwenyth scored with that 60's drop waist that was drop dead elegant. Jennifer Garner scored - hair back - dress lovely. And HBC - had matching shoes, which is all we now request of her.

Cate looked like a chair. A chair with a yoke on each shoulder. Helen was so elegant. Gwenyth scored with that 60's drop waist that was drop dead elegant. Sandra scored - hair back - dress lovely. And HBC - had matching shoes, which is all we now request of her.

I don't know how much vintage you all were imbibing during the awards, but Gwyneth's threads were not on my top five. Or ten. Or 20. In fact, she was on the bottom. And made Worst Dressed on the official list (http://www.moviefone.com/oscars-academy-awards/photos/worst-looks). To me, she looked like some strung out Malibu Barbie in that worn-out gold lamé. I pity poor Cate, choosing edgy fashion. I liked it, but I lean on the fringy edge of high design. Keep it for the runway and away from prying eye, dearest.

Somebody please tell me what in the world was it with Scarlett Johannson's hair? How that mess could be attractive to anybody is totally beyond me. That she probably had a hairdresser and spent time creating an "I just woke up" look is mind-boggling. Well, on second thought, she just falls into the hobo look of today's male stars--the unshaven, unkempt crew.

Gowns aside, this was probably the worst Academy Awards show I've ever seen...and I've a seen a lot. Gwyneth looked anorexic, tired, and washed out. The gown did nothing for her. Ann Hathaway and What's-his-name were much too cutesie and/or bored (not to mention boring). Experience does pay! Overall, we were very happy with the winners if not all their speeches (really, Ms. Leo!!)

I agree with most of the others, loved the vintage Valentino on Anne Hathaway. Scarlett Johannson has always looked so elegant in the past she appeared as though she had tried to cut her own hair.
As a dirty old lady, I couldn't believe how shabby and seedy Matthew McConaughey looked. He is such a handsome guy and he looked like he had been on a bender and styled his hair with Crisco.
What happened to that drop dead gorgeous guy in the Dolce and Gabbana ads?

THANK you for including Helen Miren. She always dresses classy and gracefully and manages to compete with the young hot ladies.

Do we really need a 'worst dressed' list? All these people have their own unique style and contribute something interesting to the event. Most curious is that all of the 'best dressed' end up on some critic's worst list and ditto for the 'worst'. Who are the real experts?

Can't we just embrace the fact that these people are willing to take risks and subject themselves to the scrutiny? It's very easy to be a critic, but few would have the guts to show up in public to two different colored shoes. Could you walk in those shoes? Probably not.

As much as I love Cate Blanchett, she always looks like she's about to run to the grocery store...Her hair is always a mess, and her dress this year was terrible. I wish she'd either develop some better fashion taste or hire someone to help her...Quick.

hi,ms. blanchett's dress reminds me of a dress one of the pussycat girls worn on the mississipi video.check out is on my facebook,except the color,and elvis collar.
and that was back in 75.maybe it was a tribute!

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